MentorNet News – April 2010 Volume 2

Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

e-mentoring for diversity in engineering and science   In This Issue Featured Job Opportunity 5 Million Reasons to Love Your Local Community College Edgar's Story: My Journey to MentorNet MentorNet Celebrates WEPAN/NAMEPA Partnerships in Baltimore Report: HSIs Key to Spurring Latino Movement Women Still Out of Start-Up Funding Game Spelman Gets $1M for Engineers Quick Links Featured Job Opportunity IBM has opened a new Technical Services Delivery Center in Dubuque, Iowa. This center has created approximately 1,300 jobs.  IBM is seeking talented Technical Support Specialists who would be responsible for problem and change tickets for client server support operations. To view additional information about IBM Job Opportunities and to apply for opportunities in their Dubuque, Iowa center, please click here.   Latina Mentors and Proteges Sought Mega M Subramaniam, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland, is conducting a study on the barriers faced by Latinas in IT. If you are a former or current Latina MentorNet mentor or protégé in an IT-related discipline (computer engineering, computer science and entertainment media) and are interested in participating, please email mmsubram@umd.edu. The interview will take approximately one hour. Thank you! We Need Beta Testers!  Are you interested in testing out our upgraded, soon-to-be-released MentorNet website? If so, please send an email to editor@mentornet.net and we will send you the details. Thanks!  Join Our List     April 2010, Vol. II www.mentornet.net 5 Million Reasons to Love Your Local Community College They need to graduate that many additional students by 2020 for the well-being of the US economy I love community colleges. They are the strivers and scrappers, like their students. And now after years of being "considered the backwater of higher education" (as today's Wall Street Journal noted), the spotlight is on them and their future looks brighter. I just returned from the American Association of Community College annual convention in Seattle where the CC Presidents from across the nation promised to answer President Obama's call for five million extra graduates by 2020. Continue reading here.   -David Porush, CEO of MentorNet Edgar's Story: My Journey to MentorNet Edgar Lobaton in Macchu Picchu, Peru. I learned about MentorNet during the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in the Science (SACNAS) National Conference. At the time, I was looking for ways to motivate students into higher education at institutions where research opportunities may not be available. I had almost convinced myself that there was no organization that offered a remote mentoring program when I heard someone mention MentorNet. Due to my personal journey and my firm belief that technology offers an invaluable opportunity to interact and reach individuals in ways that are not otherwise feasible, I decided to join MentorNet and share my experiences with students overcoming the same life challenges that I have encountered. Continue reading here. -Edgar Lobaton, Contributor MentorNet Celebrates WEPAN/NAMEPA Partnership in Baltimore Hundreds of professionals from the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) community gathered in Baltimore, Maryland, to celebrate WEPAN and NAMEPA at their 4th joint conference, and MentorNet was among the well-wishers! The focus of this year's conference was to share and investigate ideas that diversify the field of engineering through increasing the participation of women and minorities. Themed "Setting Sail for the Future: Leveraging Diversity for a Stronger Crew", the conference offered attendees a one-of-a-kind experience with explorations in diversity, policy, funding, strategies to cultivate the next generation of engineers, and effective messaging. MentorNet, a long-time supporter of WEPAN, hosted its first-ever networking event on the east coast and participated in the showcase sponsored by Intel. Click here to see photos and read more! -Lisa Jennings, Senior Consultant on Strategic Partnerships and Outreach Report: HSIs Key to Spurring Latino Movement Through STEM Pipeline A Center for Urban Education (CUE) report argues that reversing the historic underfunding of Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) will increase the number of Latino students moving into the science and technology fields because it would lead to improved transfer pathways between community colleges and HSIs. The study, called "Improving Transfer Access to STEM Bachelor's Degrees at Hispanic-Serving Institutions Through the America COMPETES Act," found that although participation rates are increasing, Latinos were awarded just 8.2 percent of STEM bachelor's degrees in 2007. Read the full article here. -Diverse Education Women Still Out of Start-Up Funding Game Is the tech industry a meritocracy in the United States? Is the VC community ready to embrace a woman with a good idea? Some statistics published by the New York Times suggest that the answer is no: while women own 40% of the private businesses in the US, they create only 8% of venture-backed tech startups. There are many factors influencing these numbers. The article "Out of the Loop in Silicon Valley", featured in the Business section of the New York Times last Sunday, provides an in-depth analysis of gender discrepancies in the high-tech industry at different levels. The article touches on an aspect that is at the core of MentorNet's mission: how do we attract and retain women (and others underrepresented) in STEM: science, technology, engineering and math? According to this article, 1% of girls taking the SAT in 2009 said they wanted to major in computer or information sciences, compared to 5% of boys. Only 18% of all graduates from computer sciences in 2008 were women, down from 37% in 1985. The article suggests that having role models is paramount to attracting more women to the field. We agree. We also know from experience that having a mentor can be a deciding factor for a young woman to succeed in a male dominated field like technology.   -Alejandra Velasquez, Director of Media and Communications Spelman Gets $1M for Engineers Spelman College has received a $1 million grant from ExxonMobil to increase the number of engineers who are black women. The college said six students majoring in a targeted science or math areas will be selected annually as ExxonMobil Scholars. In addition to the scholarship, they will receive mentoring, internships, research training and access to labs at Spelman and Georgia Tech. The historically black women's college is already ranked as one of the leading producers of black females who go on to earn doctoral degrees in science and engineering. -The Atlanta Journal-Constitution MentorNet is a 501(C)(3) California non-profit educational organization. Our mission is to help engineering and science students at the university level - especially women and underrepresented minorities - achieve their career goals by matching them with mentors and guiding their one-on-one relationships over the Web. We are funded by fees from our campus, corporate, government laboratory and society partners and by grants from public and private foundations.

MentorNet | 840 W California Ave | Suite 200 | Sunnyvale | CA | 94086